14 DAY TRIAL // A team of researchers from Israel announces the development of a new contact lens prototype that relies on mechanically stimulating the cornea to produce a form of electronic Braille that wearers can use to perceive their surroundings.
The science team is based at the Bar Ilan University's (BIU) Faculty of Engineering and is led by professor Zeev Zalevsky, the researcher who came up with the idea for the new lens, Gizmag reports.
The new system requires a smartphone or mounted camera to capture a live feed of the physical objects around the wearer. The contact lenses would then process this data and produce mechanical pressure on the cornea in a specific pattern, which would resemble a type of Braille language.
Early tests of the new system determined that the period of adjustment to the new system was minimal for users, and that encouraging results are possible within a very short time frame.
“We did preliminary clinical trials on people and were able to transmit basic spatial shapes through tactile sense which the subjects were able to recognize after practice of a few minutes. The more shapes you wish to recognize the longer the training should be, but it is similar to what happens when a blind person learns to recognize Braille writing,” says Zalevsky.